The Enigma of Health: The Art of Healing in a Scientific Age

In this important new book, Hans-Georg Gadamer discusses the transformation in human self-understanding wrought by the scientific worldview, focusing in particular on the unparalleled achievements of modern medicine.

He explores the ethical and humanist issues raised by the technological successes of modern clinical practice, and relates them to the classical conception of "praxis" in the philosophical tradition.

In a series of lucid and engaging analyses, Gadamer eloquently defends the idea of medicine, not only as a "science of health, but as an "art" of hermeneutic relevance, requiring the exercise of practical judgment and personal interpretation. We should, he argues, recognize the limits of purely technical approach to healing, as well as the importance of a qualitative approach to medical treatment.

Written by one of the leading philosophers of the twentieth century, this brilliant meditation on health, illness, and the art of healing will be of interest to general readers as well as students of philosophy and social thought.

Author: Hans-Georg Gadamer
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 06/01/1996
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.89lbs
Size: 8.86h x 6.42w x 0.76d
ISBN: 9780804726917

About the Author
Hans-Georg Gadamer, now ninety-five, is one of Germany's most eminent philosophers. Many of his books have appeared in English translation, including the seminal Truth and Method (Sheed and Ward, Ltd., l975) and, closest in topic, perhaps, to this book, Reason in the Age of Science (MIT, l982).

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